By: JC Rodriguez

The Plaza de Mercado de Santurce is the local meeting place, where cooking enthusiasts, chefs and plain folk visit daily to buy the fresh produce and their staples, and to socialize. It acts as a magnet for a slew of small, restaurants that specialize in the local cuisine, like El Popular, where many executives go for their fix of the mixtas- (rice, beans and beef stew). There you will also find chefs who specialize in fish; El Pescador or nueva cocina with a twist on the local fare such as Jose Enrique, or Vittorino, Italian chef via Santo Domingo, where the food preparation is taken to a more sophisticated plateau.

Jose Santaella is a well known and loved chef, featured in the coffee table book Puerto Rico, La Gran Cocina del Caribe where he is described as the caterer to the who’s who in Puerto Rican society. He has chosen the former catering kitchen that was used by his father, Jose Antonio, another well known restauranteur , located on Canals Street adjacent to the marketplace to open his first restaurant, the eponymous named, Santaella http://www.santaellapr.com

Jose, the son, has apprenticed in the kitchens of Erik Ripert, Le Bernadin in NYC) Ferran Adrie (El Bulli in Spain), and the local cooking guru, Alfredo Ayala, but his cuisine and his palate are rooted in the dishes that he savored at home, where father and mother cooperated in the kitchen.

Santaella Interior view, photo by Laura Toro

The restaurant is unpretentious, a spacious area with high ceilings, modestly cleaned up and revamped, maintaining the existing salmon tinted cement tiles so imbued in our architectural past, and adding a series of ceiling fixtures with multiple incandescent light bulbs. A whole side wall opens to a shallow garden with local flora, reflected in a mirror that visually increases its depth.

 

 

The locavore menu varies, but you can find a sweet plantain soup with foie gras vinaigrette, or a classic puertorrican dish of chicken livers with caramelized onions and balsamic glaze, that is just missing the Marsala wine that Craig Claiborne added to his 1961 recipe in The New York Times Cookbook.

You may delight in the turnovers with cream cheese and fine herbs that were crispy and savory, or in the rolls with morcilla( the local blood sausage) served with a spicy mayonnaise, that is a variation of an Ayala signature dish, who wrapped it in phylo dough, for a crispier contrast.. Also delicious are the ham croquettes, inherited from our Spanish ancestry.

In the Barely Touched entrees, there is a fine tartare of wild-caught salmon with avocado and crunchy chayote (sour sop) salad or ceviche of mahi-with avocado and crunchy chayote (sour sop) salad or ceviche of mahi-mahi and sole with mango, tomatoes, cilantro and mandarin oranges.

For those wanting something more substantial, there is baked sea bass in coconut milk and lemongrass with edamame and carrots or organic bred chicken breast with smoked paprika and local root vegetable pure. (yautia). Not to be missed is the squid with black ink rice with tostones, the local delicacy of twice-fried green plantains. Or, when available, a heavenly serenata (a traditional dish locally eaten on meatless Fridays) consisting of a codfish salad with root vegetables (yautia, batata and potatoes) plainly dressed with oil and vinegar that is to die for.

For dessert Santaella proposes passion fruit crime caramel or a sinful warm chocolate cake filled with sweet baby bananas with vanilla and nutmeg ice cream.

Santaella is open for lunch Monday through Friday and for dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. Closed Sundays.

 

219 Calle Canals, Santurce

Phone: 725-1611 for reservations

Email: santaella@josesantaella.com